Meet Ann: Living, Learning, and Advocating with Type 2 Diabetes

Working at my school library back in 1967 (yes, the dark ages!), an adult coworker noticed my symptoms: sweats, shakes, thirst, overeating, and weight GAIN, and approached me, suggesting I see a doctor and gave me some literature about diabetes. I was sent to the Joslin Clinic in Boston where I was given an oral glucose tolerance test, the basic test at that time. I was 16.

I was told I had hypoglycemia and would be diabetic and possibly dead by the time I was 40. Told to watch my diet and sent home. I was on my own. I finished school, became an educator, got married, and had two children (along with gestational diabetes and being told no more children). I was put on the insulin available at that time.

Since I taught grade 6 and above, I told my coworkers and students what to do should I show signs of a low. I kept hard candy in my desk at all times. A substitute teacher once allowed the kids to have some and the next time I felt a low coming on there was no candy. My class reacted by getting help from another teacher, but I was incoherent at the time. 

I was on my own for nearly 25 years. No one understood. No one helped. When I finally found a doctor called an endocrinologist, my blood glucose readings were 300 or more, crashing to a low of 32 at times. She got me the appropriate medications and some education.

Now I have taken many classes, revamped my diet, and have the newer insulins. It takes three insulins and five shots a day for me to survive. I tried CGMs, but the tech just didn't work for me. I am now 76. Due to colon cancer in the past, I cannot take GLP-1s. I have dealt with interruptions to the supply of my insulins, causing me to contact local state representatives and local media. I have severe neuropathy and cannot walk. I now know to treat other ailments with insight to my diabetes.

While I do not think of diabetes as my identity, I speak freely to seniors who may be newly diagnosed. I advocate with the ADA, locally and nationally, recently attending Call to Congress.

I am a person who is a mom, grandmother, and who happens to have a condition called type 2 diabetes. I soldier on.